Co-chairs Norm and Virginia Bobins welcomed Michael Boren, Israelís ambassador to the United States; Holocaust survivor and honoree Frieda Weinberg, and Eli Rosenbaum, director for human rights enforcement strategy and policy at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Also in attendance were probable mayoral candidates Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart; U.S. Senate hopefuls Alexi Giannoulias and Mark Kirk; Attorney General Lisa Madigan, and her father, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

After introducing Mayor Richard M. Daley, the Bobins presented him with a framed memento of the museum in Washington, D. C., and thanked him for his many years of support, particularly for the Days of Remembrance ceremonies held in Chicago over the years.

Honoree Frieda Weinberg related the story of her escape in Poland and two years of hiding with her brother and mother in a hole under a barn.

After three years spent in a displaced-persons camp in Austria, she came to Chicago with her family in 1950.

Mr. Bobins asked all other Holocaust survivors present to stand, and almost 100 were included in a prolonged standing ovation.

Following lunch, Messrs. Boren and Rosenbaum spoke about the continued search for participants in crimes of genocide and the necessity of never forgetting the events that led to the extermination of so many people in Europe at the hands of the Nazis.

May 15, 2014

A lotta night music: That's what Mozart might have called Merit School of Music's 35th anniversary celebration, held May 8 at the Palmer House Hilton. From cocktails through dinner, live music performed by students from the West Side school filled the air.